


Last Dance

by hirilukit



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24596032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirilukit/pseuds/hirilukit
Summary: Her crew gave her life, and she will return it to them. They still need her, one last time, and she responds. Like she always responded. Like she would never respond again.
Relationships: Going Merry & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Last Dance

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Last Dance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21256013) by [Gaby007](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaby007/pseuds/Gaby007). 



> TN: Thanks to Gaby007 for writing the original and giving me permission to translate it, and to @vivrcard for the help with editing :) Enjoy!

She can’t quite recall when her existence really began. She just knows that it was a long time ago, long before she welcomed a crew, the first and last she would have. 

It starts when a butler decides to build a leisure boat for the family that employs him. A nice idea in theory, but somewhat unexciting in practice: one or two trips out to sea, never straying too far from the island. All the same, it’s thanks to those trips she ceases to be a mere boat. 

The moment comes without fanfare, of course. She exists, but that doesn’t mean that she lives. All that she’s capable of for the moment is being. It doesn’t make her hot or cold, she isn’t aware enough to worry or rage against destiny. 

And then one day, the butler offers her a crew. And the world changes dramatically.

The crew takes her out to sea, makes her endure a thousand blows that they patch up terribly afterwards, anchors her in exciting foreign harbors...

And the days pass, and she experiences sensations unknown to her, emotions - the fear when she’s presented with a danger she might not be able to withstand, the irritation when her crew puts her repeatedly in harm’s way, the joy of setting off again - and she doesn’t just exist anymore, she lives.

Only when you live, you suffer too, and she discovers this just as violently as she does painfully. 

At first, it isn’t a big deal, nothing that can’t be repaired with adequate aid. But the little things accumulate one after the other, without completely healing. It could’ve been fine, even with all that. She could’ve endured it, except there’s that damage, the worst of all, and she knows that she’s lost. 

Except that she’s the only ship her crew has, and who will take care of them if she disappears now? Who will take them from island to island, protect them from storms, and provide a roof above their heads? Who?

So, she resorts to the use of a spirit, and she knows that once she does this, she won’t be able to go back anymore. It will suck her power to the last drop, the final crumb of consciousness that she had acquired little by little as she played her role as a ship. 

She knows, and she does. It’s temporary, just enough time to find a good island, a good carpenter, and then… then her crew will be safe, can carry on their journey. Even if she wants to continue with them, above all else, and would like to cry because she can’t, it’s this that counts.

Her crew is the most important thing. It always was, because it’s thanks to them that she became more than a common ship. They’re her fathers and mothers, and she loves them so much that she thinks she’s dying when they break apart because of her. 

She thinks she’s dying, but she doesn’t die. Even after the tidal wave passes, even resting among the wreckage and scrap. She isn’t dead, though she should be.

That will soon be set right. Her crew needs her, she can feel it, and she knows she can’t both save them and survive. But she isn’t what’s important.

Her crew gave her life, and she will return it to them. They still need her, one last time, and she responds. Like she always had. Like she never would again. 

She responded simply, as she learned from them: because they’re the Straw Hat Pirates, and nobody raises a hand against their crew members. Not if one of them can help it.

Now, for the first time and the last, it’s the Going Merry’s turn.


End file.
